Printing devices are generally well-known in the prior art as are devices which may print on a planar surface, however, a need has developed for a completely reliable marking system which may mark a desired message on a planar surface, which may store a plurality of such messages for easy instant retrieval and which may be easily transported in a briefcase, small suitcase or other carrying case.
The following references are known to applicant:
U.S. Pat. No. 3,767,020 to Rowe discloses the concept of a manually positionable, automatic printer which is designed to print symbols (1) on a planar surface (2) via control from a remote Source of command signals via the flexible Cable. The printer which is utilized in the Rowe invention consists of a dot matrix. The invention disclosed in the Rowe patent is of only general interest concerning the teachings of the present invention since the printhead must be continuously moved at a steady speed during the printing operation otherwise all of the printed letters will be printed on top of one another. Furthermore, the flexibility, memory and display capabilities of the present invention are no where found in this patent.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,973,111 to Washizuka et al. teaches the concept of a calculator having a thermal printing head which allows one to print numbers in stamp-like fashion. While this device discloses a self-contained device, its use is limited and it does not include the time and multi-line capabilities of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,994,217 to Archilla teaches the concept of a device designed to print the weight of an article on the article responsive to sensing of the weight by a weighing scale. In this patent, the data which is inputted is the weight of the article and there is no provision for selectively entering a desired message. As such, the teachings of this patent are belived to be only generally related to the teachings of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,075,945 to Bienholz discloses the concept of a print medium and assembly including the use of a stretchable band on which printing indicia are discretely arranged in linear array and wherein the band is selectively indexed to place the indicia which is desired to be printed in alignment with the print medium. This reference is believed to be of only general interest concerning the teachings of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,192,006 to Hausdorff discloses the concept of a portable travel expense tabulator including the provision of being able to print on a tape specific expenses which are entered through depression of buttons having the expense item illustrated thereon. This patent does not disclose printing a predetermined message which has been retained in a memory on a substantially planar surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,412,232 to Weber et al. discloses an ink jet printer device which is designed to be incorporated into a hand-held rolling printer best seen in FIG. 1. As was the case in U.S. Pat. No. 3,767,020 to Rowe, the printhead must be moved during the printing operation to ensure correct spacing between the printed indicia.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,414,545 to Sakurada et al. discloses a memory circuit for generating liquid crystal display characters which is of general utility. While the teachings of Sakurada et al. may be utilized as a subcombination element of the present invention in some respect, there is no teaching or suggestion in this patent of the various printing, storage, calculation and time functions of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,485,735 to Jonca discloses an automated printing machine and printing unit for such machine which are believed to be only generally related to the teachings of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,539,906 to Ogura teaches the concept of a hand-held printer including a drive system designed to be responsive to the depression of buttons to move type carrying belts into the appropriate position for stamping. Of course, the present invention is clearly distinct from the teachings of this patent as including memory for storage prior to printing, time function, calculator function, as well as more advanced printing structure.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,608,923 to Muller discloses the concept of a postal meter value selector sequencing system designed to print indicia on an article inserted therein.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,609,295 to Shimodaira discloses a hand-held printing calculator designed to print indicia on a moving web of paper. The teachings of this patent are believed to be of only general interest concerning the teachings of the present invention.
Accordingly, a need has developed for a self-contained portable, programmable marking device which may be easily transported and which will effectively print a message of up to, for example, four lines of type on a desired substantially planar surface with each line of type having up to at least 40 characters.